Review Summary: A modern hip-hop classic that embraces several styles of funky beats and out of this world rhythms.
It's no secret I used to suck at reviewing. Trying to tackle k-os' second album Joyful Rebellion was much more than a challenge, and it showed. "This song is good". "I like this song". Ugh. A man like k-os deserves more. First off, he's probably Canada's most notorious hip hop producer. For ten years he's mastered countless projects that no one has heard of. Second, he already has a string of classic albums, from his debut Exit to 2004's Joyful Rebellion. k-os deserves bragging rights. Moreso than
Kanye West? I'll let you discuss.
The man's back with his 2006 release
Atlantis: Hymns For Disco, and it is a welcome return for the hip hop veteran. He dabbles in Motown rhythm and blues, pop rock and some extremely hazardous MC-ing. Meshing all these qualities together serves up an incredibly unique album that could easily be called his best. Unfortunately, it was quite the turnoff when k-os appeared on a little channel called MuchMusic. For a channel that shows about as much variety as a hampster, it seems ludicrously impossible to get such a legend, such a shadow of music onto one of their teeny-bop request hours for an interview. I couldn't stand hearing the screaming pre-teens sending their love to a clearly uninterested k-os, who really was only there to respond "yes" or "no" to turbulently idiotic questions. "Did you write the liner notes?" "Yes." "I'm being told this album is good. Is this true?" "Yes". This doesn't reflect his music well.
But what does? Over the course of thirteen songs k-os experiments with multiple genres. One of the most notable is a return to old school rhythm and blues. The music shifts through many moods across this page - from the morbidly depressing (most notable on "The Rain", which uses a raindrop chord progression on the piano to do the talking) to the more upbeat dance numbers that swallow the lyrics, music and rhythms whole and come out with a revival of seventies disco-funk ("Black Ice - Hymn For Disco"). As lame as it sounds, it really is a wonderful reunion with dance. The thumping drums, the sharply arpegiotic guitars playing their chords reminiscent of Kool and the Gang and Sly Stone. The song itself isn't exactly k-os' best performance, though - it seems too easy to reminisce and not bother with original sounds. What saves the song from being totally unoriginal is k-os' impressive MCing skills - the man's got alot to say ("Black is the colour of the universe from whence we came" for one), and gets his point across with such grooviness and rhythmical awareness that it's hard to consider this a rap song, but one has no choice because of the vocal performance. What really is most appealing about the album, however, isn't the different direction of genres or even the skilled rapping, but it's the awareness to the importance of rhythm. On the lead single "Sunday Morning", k-os layers his vocals in the chorus over a steadily thumping drum-beat to be served not as an antidote for the lack of pure rapping but for the roots of the song itself. The vocals are smooth and flow like milk, and this is the foundation on which the music is built upon. The bass, the drums, the guitar and keyboards are all there to merely bring the vocals realization to life.
K-os also knows how to bring things down on the dancefloor, and as I'm forced to say such horribly uncreative things there really aren't any other descriptions to describe it. Most notable of these songs is "CatDiesel" which is as funky as it is serious. A synthesizer rides the drum beat, and the melancholic strings are teamed up with k-os' heartfelt and exceptionally rhythmical vocal performance. Things may not change, but it's a wonderful song that promises to get your groove thang on. The fifities inspired groove-fest that is "Equalizer" takes a different approach - instead of taking modern tactics to get your booty shaking, k-os decides to bring back 50's jukebox music and modernize it. 50's jukebox music, that is, until the chorus hits and brings new ground to the song as a whole with a darker and more subtle stroke with it's minor chord progressions and moaning vocals. But it's really the opener "Electrik Heat - The Seekwill" that will get your body moving. Scratches, raps and heavy bass beats all inclusive, this song is as dancefloor as the album gets, which is quite a relief because it establishes right off the bat that this album isn't a disco album as the name would suggest. Easily danceable, funky and with a hint of attitude, this is as gangster and least-rhytmic as the album gets, but there really are no complaints here.
We also have his ability to slow things down portrayed well on this album. On "Highway 7", we have a solo performance with a sole guitar and a powerful vocal performance from k-os. Sad chord progressions and twisted lyrics about immortality, death and life all make this song dark and yet somehow uplifting. This leads into the epic finale, "Ballad for Noah". Without a doubt, this is one of k-os' best songs, if not his best. While making my unnecesary judgement, the acoustic guitar that carry on the role of a dark folk song strum through the walls of ethereal drums and subtle keyboard riffs are all undercoated by a vocal performance by Buck 65 that deliver the hip hop element to this genre-hopping piece. Everything molds together in the end to form one of the most memorable tracks on the album or even modern hip-hop as a whole. Unfortunately, it's the song that guests
Sam Roberts that fails to keep up with the might of the slower songs. "Valhalla" is interesting, no doubt, as it combines surf-guitar rock with hip hop and alternative rock, but the overall outcome is mixed. It sounds like an awkward African chant, and the performances from both k-os and Sam could've really been better and thus is frustrating because both are quite accomplished artists.
K-os' new album is as fresh as anything he's put out, and his methods are becoming tiring at all. He tries something new almost every track, and succeeds almost everytime despte the odd track that doesn't make sense because of it's position of the album. But aside from the odd track that come up short, this is a purely wonderful release from one of today's premier hip-hop artists. The stunning variety is matched only by k-os' chameleon-like ability to adapt to each sound and push it to it's limit. Clearly this was a well thought-out release that embraces his strong sides such as hip-hop, mellower acoustic pieces and funky dance songs, and also gives other themes a chance such as progressive and epic sorrow pieces and old school funk rock. But in the end, what remains is a wonderful reminder that hip hop isn't dead nor does it have to be considered gangsta rap and that's there's at least one unique voice on the scene.
